Published: Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 11:37 PM.

Maurice McBryde led three Triton players in double figures with 18 points, and a huge run that spanned more than a quarter was too much for North Lenoir to overcome as Triton won 61-59 to hold on to first place at Wooten Gymnasium on Thursday.

Jauquaz Jones scored a game-high 25 points — 11 in the fourth quarter — as North Lenoir (10-10, 5-3 Eastern Carolina 3A) was able to overcome a 22-4 run by Triton (15-3, 6-1) and had its chances at the end to pull out the win but couldn’t get over the hump.

“We got off to a real good start and then we lost it,” North Lenoir coach Anthony Loftin said. “This one’s tough.

“We got it to where we wanted to be at. Unfortunately the free throws just didn’t go in.”

Maurice McBryde led three Triton players in double figures with 18 points, and a huge run that spanned more than a quarter was too much for North Lenoir to overcome as Triton won 61-59 to hold on to first place at Wooten Gymnasium on Thursday.

Jauquaz Jones scored a game-high 25 points — 11 in the fourth quarter — as North Lenoir (10-10, 5-3 Eastern Carolina 3A) was able to overcome a 22-4 run by Triton (15-3, 6-1) and had its chances at the end to pull out the win but couldn’t get over the hump.

“We got off to a real good start and then we lost it,” North Lenoir coach Anthony Loftin said. “This one’s tough.

“We got it to where we wanted to be at. Unfortunately the free throws just didn’t go in.”

North Lenoir used an 11-0 run to go up by double digits, 28-18, but a turnaround jumper by McBryde with 1:38 to play in the second quarter ended the run and sparked a 22-4 run by Triton that put it on top for good.

Kelvin Robinson’s layup with 56 seconds left in the third quarter got it to within single digits at 42-34, and from there the host school methodically crept back in.

Frustrated with the play of his starters, Loftin subbed five-for-five at times, but with 6:47 left and his team down seven he felt it was time to hand the game back to his original five and they did their jobs.

The starters immediately forced a turnover which led to a 3-pointer by Javonte King to make it 46-42 with 6:26 to play.

Triton’s lead didn’t dip below four points after that until King stole the inbounds pass and hit Jones for a layup to make it 61-59 with 5.7 seconds to go.

Triton inbounded the ball near the baseline after a timeout, but McBryde was forced out of bounds by a double team.

North Lenoir huddled during a timeout to draw up the final play, and Braxton Davis was fouled in the act of shooting while driving the lane with 2.3 seconds left.

First free throw away — off the back iron. Second free throw away — off to the right. And there went North Lenoir’s chances at pulling into a tie in the loss column with Triton.

“Once they made their run I think we panicked and we couldn’t stop them. I think you could see the frustration on their faces,” Loftin said. “We went to the second group until we could kind of regroup with the first group.

“I felt like we’d make another run at it because at times we’d been pretty good. … We just have to regroup now and play the last four games. We can’t worry about this one. We’ve got to finish off the season strong.”

TRITON 52, NORTH LENOIR 39

A pair of single-digit quarters was enough to do North Lenoir in as it failed to pick up its first league win in girls basketball this season.

Quoya Porter scored 11 points and Amanda Bizzell added nine for North Lenoir (2-18, 0-8), which was outscored 24-14 in the second and third periods combined.

Mallory Caroway scored 10 points for Triton (8-10, 4-3) in an effort to keep pace with the top half of the league.

Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.